New businesses projected to open in Paradise

Within the next few years, several new businesses will be opening their doors to the residents of Paradise. Walmart, Safeway, Wendy's, Dollar General and Big 5 have all spoken with the Town of Paradise about opening a business in town or improving their current building, according to the Community Development Director, Craig Baker.

Two Dollar General stores (2013):

Paradise is expected to get two new Dollar General stores within the next couple of years, both on Skyway and Clark Roads.

"We will get one for certain, obviously it is being built now (on Skyway between Olive and Elliot Roads)," Baker said. "They are very interested in another site over by Kmart."

The first Dollar General store is expected to open at the end of the month, while the Clark Road store is not expected to begin construction until the end of the year.

"They have something like 10,000 stores across the nation, and places like Bakersfield have two or three," he said.

Despite its name including the word dollar, Dollar General does in fact sell items for more than a dollar.

"They are almost like a five and dime, kind of like a small Walmart. "They aren't a dollar store, per se," Baker said.

Walmart:

Walmart has been talking about opening a location in Paradise for years, but they haven't given up hope on coming to the Ridge.

"They are still working on a waste water solution, so they have kind of put the brakes on things until they can sort that out," Baker said. "I think they are making progress."

The town has been looking into a couple possibilities for waste water disposal recently, including hooking up to the Chico sewer system.

"The town has explored the possibility of a waste water disposal site near the golf course on lower Skyway or tapping into the city of Chico's sewer system," Baker said. "Neither one of those has happened, but there have been preliminary discussions with the city of Chico."

Walmart may not have to wait until the town has a solution for its waste water before it is able to begin construction.

"The project design that they submitted to us shows an onsite waste water disposal on one of the lots that they are proposing to create," Baker said.

When Walmart does come to town, they will be building on a lot on lower Skyway at the edge of town.

Safeway (2014):

Paradise will not be getting a new Safeway store, but the Safeway that they are used to seeing in town will likely undergo changes sometime around 2014.

"I don't know that they have necessarily given us a date, but it would be hard to imagine that they would be done before then," Baker said. "They haven't submitted building plans to us; we have only looked at conceptual site plans."

What the conceptual site plans show is a bigger Safeway with more amenities for their customers.

"What they are pursuing doing right now is an expansion of their existing store - an 11,000 square foot expansion and the establishment of a gas station," Baker said. "If the numbers work that is probably what they will do."

Although Safeway is hoping to stay in its current location in town, it may have to move after all.

"If they run into trouble there or it doesn't look like that is in their best interest, then they will look for another site here in town," Baker said.

Wendy's (Projected Late 2013)

Wendy's is projected to begin building this year, with a location site off of Clark Road near the AM/PM store.

"They have all of their approvals, all they have to do is pull building permits," Baker said. "The last I spoke with the developer with that project, he was trying to line up his financing by the end of last month."

Currently, the closest Wendy's restaurant is located in Chico off of Cohasset Road.

Big 5:

Big 5 may be coming to town, although nothing definite is set in motion yet. A representative from the franchise did, however, have a meeting with the Town of Paradise about three weeks ago, Baker said.

"Big 5 has been wanting to come to Paradise for a number of years," he explained. "I don't know that they have necessarily settled on a site yet, there have been several sites that they have looked at, and I think that they are still just doing that."

Recently, Big 5 has expressed an increased interest in opening a store on the Ridge, Baker said.

"There is nothing like Big 5 up here, we have smaller sporting goods stores," he said. "The more retail space we have up here the better."

Little Caesar's Pizza (six weeks):

Little Caesar's Pizza will be opening a new location in town in the Holiday shopping center, in addition to its location inside of the Kmart store.

"I believe it is where the old Laundromat used to be," Baker said.

Baker said that the new businesses will be good for the community and that the Town of Paradise encourages new businesses to come to town.

"I can tell you that we are very proactive in trying to foster and promote businesses," Baker said. "We don't want to appear desperate, but we want to appear as friendly as we can towards new businesses, and we want everybody to know that."